Cupid at Work
by leveragus
Summary: Different Nate and Sophie Valentine's day moments through the years.


**A/N Sorry I haven't update One Fine Day for awhile but RL has been keeping me busy. I'll try to update as soon as I can, most of it is already written. For now here's a Valentine's Day present. This uses the prompt romance from my leverage bingo card!**

**Enjoy :D**

**Cupid at Work**

_London _

Nate was resting on his forearms against the railing looking down onto the big ballroom. People were gathered all around, talking among them, laughing and occasionally admiring the paintings hung up on the wall surrounding them. With the corner of his eye he saw a waiter passing by with a tray carrying wine flutes filled with white wine. He was tempted to grab one and indulge himself to have a bit of fun, but then he reminded himself that he was there for work. His boss, Ian Blackpoole had sent him there to check the security since most of the paintings displayed were insured by IYS, the company he worked for.

"Well, hello there" someone suddenly whispered in his ear.

Nate didn't have to turn around to see who it was, he had recognized the voice immediately. "I should have known that you were going to be here" he smirked finally turning around to see the brunette woman leaning with her back against the railing dangerously too close to him.

She smiled at him ignoring his statement. "You come to my city and you don't even call to let me know. I should be offended by that"

"Are you here to steal something, Sophie?" he now turned his whole body towards here and his breath hit her hair.

She resisted the temptation to roll her eyes at him, instead she kept her eyes locked to his. "You know I can appreciate art without stealing it"

He chuckled amused. "It's hard to believe that"

"I'm actually here on a date, an investor or something, but he actually left him alone to talk to someone about business" she waved her hand around like she didn't know what she was talking about and they both ignored the fact that she perfectly knew what her date was up to as she had planned to con the man or months.

"He's not very smart if he has left a beautiful woman alone" he complimented her making her slightly blush.

It was usually her that teased and flirted with him, knowing that nothing could ever happen between them since he was happily married with a kid. It surprised her to hear him say those words.

"Well, when I saw you here all alone and couldn't just leave you. I bet your wife mustn't have been happy to see you go away" The mention of his wife help them to remember that there was line that they couldn't cross.

He frowned "Why is that?"

This time she did roll her eyes at him. "Really, Nate! You're definitely a man. It's Valentine's day, you dummy!"

"Oh" he had completely forgot about it. He was mentally thinking if he was going to have time to grab a little something for Maggie.

Music started playing around them and people walked to the center of the room ready to dance.

He noticed Sophie's eyes subtly and anxiously searching for her partner. Of course. As strong as she presented to him, and she sometimes made him forget that she was more than a grifter and thief, Sophie was always a woman and even though she was conning the man, that didn't change the fact that he had ditched her on their Valentine's date.

He sighed wondering what was making him do his next move. "Would you like to dance?" extending his hand for her to take.

Sophie quickly turned her head to him and seeing the sincerity in his eyes she smiled at him, putting her hand in his. "Sure"

They slowly made their way to the dancing area, finding a secluded angle It was a slow dance, so Nate placed awkwardly his right arm around her waist and she placed her left arm around his next, while their other hand were laced together. Soon they moved together to the rhythm. Embarrassed by the situation, Nate was looking anywhere else expect for the woman standing so close to him, but soon her dark chocolate eyes captured his deep blue ones and there he felt it again, the knot deep in his stomach that he was recently experiencing when she was around. It perfectly knew what it meant, but he was doing every he could to ignore not wanting to imagine the consequences if he ever acted on it.

Suddenly he felt someone pulling Sophie away from him.

"Caroline?" a tall good-looking man was looking at them curiously.

"Martin" Sophie let go of Nate and he already missed the contact. "You're here" she smiled at the younger man. Nate watched her quickly changed into her character. "I was waiting for you when this nice man asked me to dance." She smiled at Nate pretending like they hadn't know each other for years now. "This should teach you not to leave your girlfriend alone for long"

"Well I'm here now" he sent a glare towards the insurance investigator and Nate caught the cue.

"I'm off" he gave them a small fake smile. "Thank you for the dance, Miss" he looked deeply in her eyes.

Sophie watched Nate walking away making his way towards the even curator. It had felt nice dancing with him and having his arms around her. Too good.

_Los Angeles_

Nate was laying down on the couch in his office at their headquarters. He had gone home since they had come back from Juan. He had managed to get washed in the small bathroom and he had luckily found some clean clothes in his office closet. After taking some painkillers, he had decided to lay down on the couch since he was too tired to even take a taxi towards his home. His shoulder was still throbbing and the slightly red stain on the bandages told him that he had managed to tore at least one of the stitches that Eliot had so carefully placed hours before.

Having his eyes hoping that sleep would catch up with him, he didn't hear someone entering the room until that someone ran a hand down his face.

"Hello Sophie" he muttered making her jump.

"You're awake" she stated taking her seat on the edge of couch next to his hips.

"Barely" he finally slightly opened his eyes. She was beautiful and impeccable like always. You could never tell that she had just spend the rest of her day sitting on a dusty bank floor under the heat.

"How are you feeling?" she asked him concerned. Seeing Nate getting shot had really shocked her.

"Like I've been shot" he drily commented not being funny at all. "This time I can't even blame you"

She rolled her eyes at him. Of course he took every chance he had to bring that incident up. "Did you take anything?"

"A couple of painkillers"

"With an empty stomach!" she glared at him.

"I'm not really hungry"

"Well, at least I hope the decency of not drinking" her eyes told him that his answer had better be no.

"Shouldn't you be somewhere?" he tried to dismiss her.

"Why? Am I bothering you?"

"No," he knew not to get that answer wrong. "It's just that it's Valentine's day. Haven't you got a date or something?"

"Unfortunately my dating life is actually empty, so no, I've got nothing better to do than to babysit you" she got up and put her hands out for him to take.

Nate raised both his eyebrows in question. He really didn't want to get up from his comfy couch.

"Come on. I'll drive you home and then make you something to eat"

He sighed and he reluctantly accepted her help to get up.

"And I'll stitch you back up too" she turned away making her way towards the exit.

"How did.." Nate shook his head thinking that it was better not knowing.

Sophie drove them to his apartment through the surprisingly quiet L.A. traffic. After ordering him to sit down on his sitting room couch, she went to his kitchen to prepare a quick chicken soup. It was definitely not a typical Valentine's day dinner, but it was better than nothing. She sat next to him and they both ate their soup. Nate had switched on the TV and was flipping through channels until Sophie had told him to stop when she saw that Sleepless in Seattle was about to start.

"You know what?" she suddenly said during the movie. Their dishes were long forgotten and Nate had his feet up the small table and his uninjured arm laying on the back of couch, so Sophie could rest her head on it and her getting comfortable will her leg tucked in under her.

"What?" he turned his head to look at her and he felt the long forgotten knot in his stomach again.

"It's actually nice being here. After everything that went wrong today, this is turning out to be quite a fun way to end Valentine's day"

He smiled. "Yeah." He said tucking a loose strand of her hair behind her ear. "Not bad at all"

_Boston_

Sophie entered Nate's apartment slamming the door behind her. The mastermind jumped on his. He was sitting at the kitchen table doing some crosswords.

Sophie puffed and threw her jacket and purse on the kitchen counter before going around it and going straight for a cupboard. Nate saw her take a chocolate bar and rip it open before shoving it in her mouth and taking a big bite. He knew that she was angry, better yet, furious.

She heavily sat on the chair next to his and kept furiously biting on the chocolate bar.

He knew he shouldn't get involved with whatever was bothering her, but that didn't stop him from asking his next question. "What's wrong?"

"Men are stupid!" she exclaimed to him annoyed.

And that's why he shouldn't have gotten involved. "Okay?"

"Are you just incapable to commit to something? Is it written in your DNA?" she kept arguing with him like it was his fault.

"What's all this about?"

"You know what day is it today?"

Nate mentally tried to think if he'd missed some sort of anniversary or birthday.

Seeing him struggling with an answer she sighed annoyed "It's Valentine's day" she shouted.

"Oh!"

"I was supposed to go out…"

"With your so called boyfriend" he stated making air quotes. She kept mention this guy, but he hadn't actually met him yet, wondering if her really existed.

"Yes…" she ignored his insinuation "I had tickets for play I wanted to see. I had everything planned out. Play, dinner, romantic…"

"Please don't finish that thought" Nate interrupted her. "Where will he be instead?"

"He had to go away for conference" she muttered.

"Well, I'm sorry your plans got ruined"

She pouted "I really wanted to go and see the play…"

Nate felt sorry for her and he didn't know why he felt like he had to resolve her mysterious boyfriend screw ups. "I could take you" she raised her eyebrow curiously. "I mean… to the play… if it really is so important to you" he stumbled on his words.

Her eyes lit up. "Really?"

"Really" he confirmed smiling.

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you.." She got up and kissed his cheek soundly. "You're so going to love it" she told him picking up her purse and jacked. "I need to get ready. See you at 7." She pointed a finger at him. "Don't be late" and walked out.

Nate sighed wondering what he got himself involved with, but then remembered her smile and how happy she looked and he smiled too thinking that it was all the reward he needed. He got up from his chair wondering where he was going to find fresh flowers.

_Portland_

"Hey guys!" Parker walked at the back of the brew pub with a box in her hands. "Look what I've snatched from Sophie's apartment"

Hardison and Eliot were sitting by Hardison's desk working on a special Valentine's menu for the pub. Actually they were more arguing, Hardison wanted to try something new and extravagant while Eliot was yelling at him that he couldn't put strawberries as a pizza topping.

"Sophie won't be happy once she founds out" Eliot warned her.

She shrugged. "It was sitting there, outside her apartment's door, it was basically shouting to be taken" Her eyes sparkled "It's labeled private" She put it on the desk between the two boys practically tempting them with it.

Now Hardison's eyes were full of interest too. "A little peak won't hurt" he opened the box with his knife.

Eagerly they fully opened it searching for its contents. Slowly Hardison pulled out a sexy red teddy and he quickly let it dropped from his hands once he realized what he was holding.

"Ough" he yelped "That's nasty…"

Parker kept looking inside curiously. She took out various massage oils and scents and then finally a packet of underwear. "Edible" she muttered. "Why would someone want to eat their underwear?" she asked at other two who were blushing.

"Parker!" They heard Sophie's shriek coming from behind them.

The grifter rushed to them and snatched the things from the thief's hands. "I thought we talked about stealing each other's mail!" she glared at her hiding her stuff back inside the parcel.

Hardison and Eliot looked away guilty, but they were mostly embarrassed both trying to shake the image of the sexy grifter from their heads.

"I was just curious"

"Yes, well" she couldn't really blame the thief entirely, she should have been more careful than to leave the parcel unsupervised. "It was labeled private for a reason"

"What's going on here?" the mastermind joined them cheerfully. He smiled at Sophie and leaned down behind her to peck her on the cheek. He rarely showed signs of affection in front of the team, but lately they had been so busy with the cons, that he and Sophie had spent so little time together and he missed her.

"Nothing" Sophie promptly closed the box. Too quickly that it attract the mastermind's attention.

"Sophie has got edible underwear" Parker answered instead.

"What?" Nate raised his eyebrow wondering what he was missing.

"Parker!" Sophie scolded her again. Then she turned towards Nate and laid a hand on his chest. "It's nothing really," she reassured him. "Just something for us for Valentine's day"

"It's the day of romance, Sophie" Hardison said. "Not of nasty things" he frowned.

"Guys, could we drop the subject, please" she sighed.

"Yes, let's drop the subject" Eliot added.

"But…" Parker frowned.

"Drop the subject" Eliot insisted.

And the thief pouted not really happy that nobody had answered her.

They all agreed in silence.

"I don't get it…" Nate broke the silence. "What are we doing on Valentine's day?"

_Somewhere in the middle of the sea_

"Will you just stop staring at it already"

Sophie turned around and smiled at him. "I can't help it. It looks so good, especially with the early sunlight hit it" she help her hand in front of her watching the ring on her finger sparkle.

Nate sneaked his hands around her waist and brought her body closed to his. There was a slight chill in the air on the deck of his boat. "Sometimes I wonder if you love the ring more than me" he nuzzled his nose against her neck planting small butterflies kisses on her neck.

"Maybe" she smiled teasingly "They say diamonds are forever"

He knew she was teasing him. "You're evil" he lifted his head up and looked at her. She had never looked more beautiful here there with him in the middle of nowhere with the sun rising behind her from over the horizon and he still couldn't believe it that this incredible woman had agreed to marry him.

"You've better get used to it, darling" she smiled and leaned up to capture his lips.

"Happy Valentine's day" he muttered against her lips.

"Happy Valentine's day"


End file.
